Wet butt

[Jewelmb]

Our two-year-old bielefelder has had a rather wet butt for the past few weeks or so. She seems normal otherwise. She is eating well, and is still laying eggs. Can anyone give me an idea of what might be causing this? If it is a problem or potential disease, I want to nip it in the bud (or butt) ASAP. Thank you!

 

[nuthatched]

Can you get pictures?
Age? Diet?

 

[Jewelmb]

Mathilda is a 2 1/2 year-old Bielefelder. She is fed Purina layer pellets as a regular diet, and bit of scratch every morning. Treats.mostly consist of mealworms and kale. She still has a healthy appetite, however, has not laid any eggs for a couple of days. When I just came out to take the photos, she was drinking a lot of water. We do free range her every day, and she enjoys hanging out in the dirt and mud.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Our two-year-old bielefelder has had a rather wet butt for the past few weeks or so. She seems normal otherwise. She is eating well, and is still laying eggs. Can anyone give me an idea of what might be causing this? If it is a problem or potential disease, I want to nip it in the bud (or butt) ASAP. Thank you!

Drinking a lot of water. Is her crop emptying?

I'd give her some probiotics.

When was the last time she was dewormed?

With a mucky butt like that, I'd monitor closely and keep her cleaned up so flies don't lay eggs on the soiled feathers causing FlyStrike.

If she doesn't improve with probiotics and/or deworming, then the next step I'd take for a mucky butt would to be to treat for Vent Gleet.

 

[Jewelmb]

Drinking a lot of water. Is her crop emptying?

I'd give her some probiotics.

When was the last time she was dewormed?

With a mucky butt like that, I'd monitor closely and keep her cleaned up so flies don't lay eggs on the soiled feathers causing FlyStrike.

If she doesn't improve with probiotics and/or deworming, then the next step I'd take for a mucky butt would to be to treat for Vent Gleet.

Ok so we’ve been raising a small backyard chicken flock for a while, but I am no expert. What probiotics would you recommend exactly? And to get her dewormed, do I need to go to an avian vet? Or Is this something we can do?, And What is Vent Gleet? And how to treat? You’re speaking in language that I don’t understand unfortunately.

I will clean her butt up tomorrow to prevent the flies from causing further damage. I can only imagine what Fly Strike is.

Thank you for taking the time to respond, but I need more specific information for the novice that I am.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Ok so we’ve been raising a small backyard chicken flock for a while, but I am no expert. What probiotics would you recommend exactly? And to get her dewormed, do I need to go to an avian vet? Or Is this something we can do?, And What is Vent Gleet? And how to treat? You’re speaking in language that I don’t understand unfortunately.

I will clean her butt up tomorrow to prevent the flies from causing further damage. I can only imagine what Fly Strike is.

Thank you for taking the time to respond, but I need more specific information for the novice that I am.

There's many probiotics on the market. You can use Sav A Chik probiotics or Probios, usually these can be found at TSC or online through Amazon.

You can deworm on your own if you wish. Having a fecal float through a vet is a good idea if possible. Unfortunately, sometimes it's hard to find a vet that will do a fecal float without seeing a bird or they just do not "treat" poultry period.
If you wish to just deworm, then you can use Safeguard or Valbazen.

To treat most worms that poultry can have except for Tapeworm you can use Safeguard Liquid Goat Dewormer or Equine Paste (Fenbendazole) or Valbazen (Albendazole). Both are given orally by weight; they do not mix well with water.

Safeguard dose is 0.23ml per pound of weight given orally once a day for 5 days in a row.
---OR---
Valbazen dose is 0.08ml per pound of weight given orally once, then repeated in 10 days

Here's how to give oral medications:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

Vent Gleet is a fungal/yeast infection of the Cloaca (Vent). Treatment(s) include using an anti-fungal/yeast medication like Clotrimazole, Miconazole or Nystatin. For your girl, it's hard to tell if Vent Gleet is the issue or not. The anti-fungals are also commonly used to treat Sour Crop, so I'd check her crop to see that it's emptying, often Vent Gleet is due to digestive/crop issues, but not always. But the probiotics may help her out and she doesn't need further treatment with anything.

(You are right about Flystrike, it's not a good thing to happen. Especially in warm weather, maggots can hatch out within 24hrs and they can do a tremendous amount of damage to tissue very quickly. It can be treated if caught fairly early, but it's yucky).

Here's some info about Vent Gleet
https://www.tillysnest.com/2012/12/vent-gleet-prevention-and-treatment-html/